Garmin Edge 510 GPS Review

by Matt de Neef, CyclingTips Editor

If you don't own a Garmin Edge 500, you probably know someone that does. Like the sound of riders clipping into their pedals as they set off from the traffic lights, the sound of an auto-resuming Garmin Edge 500 has become one of the sounds of the bunch ride. And over the past few weeks we've been trying out the successor to the Edge 500 – the Edge 510.

The Edge 500 used to be Garmin’s entry level bike GPS, but that’s now been replaced by the Edge 200. The first thing you’ll notice when you pull the Edge 510 out of its packaging is that it’s considerably larger than its predecessor — nearly 2cm longer, slightly wider, slightly thicker, and heavier as well. In fact, the Edge 510 is nearly the size of the Edge 810 and its predecessors. If you’re familiar with the Edge 500 you’ll also notice that the user interface is slightly different.

Gone are the four side-mounted buttons and in their place are two buttons on the front face (the “lap” button and the “start/pause” button) and the “on/off” button on the left-hand side. It actually took me a little while to find the “on/off” button as it’s tucked away and doesn’t stand out (physically or visually) like the buttons on the Edge 500.

The Edge 510 (center) is noticeably larger than the 500 (left) and nearly as large as the 810.

But the biggest change from the Edge 500 you’ll notice after you turn it on is that the Edge 510 has a touch screen with which to navigate the various screens and menus.

I’ve been spoilt by the touch-screen capabilities of the iPhone and iPad because, especially early on, I found the Edge 510’s touch screen hard to use. It didn’t seem to register my button presses and swiping between screens seems hit-and-miss. It’s a delicate balance that would be difficult for Garmin as they need to take gloves, fingers, temperature, and sensitivity into consideration.

And speaking of iDevices, one of the things that makes those gadgets so easy and pleasurable to use is that they just work, out of the box. You don’t need to fiddle around with instruction manuals or learn menu trees — it’s easy enough to leap in and get started. I didn’t have as much joy with the Edge 510’s UI — I found it hard to find the menu item I was looking for at times and combined with a temperamental touch screen and noticeable lag when switching between pages, the user experience was, at times, frustrating.

By connecting the Garmin 510 to your smartphone, you can get weather updates delivered to your handlebars.

The Garmin Edge 510 has a lot of features, as with any Garmin GPS unit, but I’m not going to go through them all here. If you’d like to read a super-comprehensive review, check out DC Rainmaker’s in-depth effort here. (Pro tip: when DC Rainmaker calls his review “in-depth” you know it’s going to be a long read.)

One of the biggest selling points of the Garmin Edge 510 is the social LiveTrack feature, as featured in this slick Garmin ad that did the rounds a couple months back.

The concept is relatively simple: you use your smartphone to upload real-time data from your ride so that friends, family, or Jonathan Vaughters can track your progress. In practical terms this means pairing you smartphone with the Garmin 510 via bluetooth and then using the Garmin Connect smartphone app to share the ride, via email, with those you want to track you.

After clicking the link in the email, your followers will see a screen like this:

As you ride, your route is overlaid on the map as a blue line, and your real-time stats (such as speed, distance covered, elevation gain, and so on) are displayed above the map.

We only tested this feature briefly but it does appear to have some promise. If you’re heading out for a long ride in the wilderness, it would be quite useful for loved ones to be able to track your progress so they know you’re ok. And I could see this feature being used by coaches to monitor a team’s performance in real-time.

But it also has a handful of shortcomings.

For a start, you need data reception in order for LiveTrack to work — not ideal if you’re riding somewhere that doesn’t have reception. There’s also the question of phone battery. If I’m doing a long ride that I want people to be able to follow — the 3 Peaks Challenge, for example — I’m going to be worried that the Bluetooth and constant data transfer over, say, 10 hours is going to suck my battery dry. And in that case, I’m going to do without LiveTrack to ensure that I’ve got enough phone battery so I can call out if something goes wrong.

The other question I have is how often I would use this feature. There’s no doubt the Garmin promo video makes LiveTrack look sleek and sexy and a whole lot of fun — and it may be for many of you — but I couldn’t see myself using it more than, say, once a month.

We originally hoped that LiveTracker would have the functionality to see your group of riding mates on the device itself. A common problem with small bunch rides in the hills is that one person loses contact and there are a flurry of texts and phone calls trying to locate him or her. Once the Bluetooth connection is set up, using LiveTracker is a piece of cake and you can use your mobile device (Android or iPhone) to track your mates. However, there is a ~30-second delay between location updates which may not make this all that useful.

You can use your mobile device to track your mates using LiveTracker.

Being constructive, it would be great to see in-device tracking in the next iteration of LiveTrack — being able to see where your mates are in relation to you could be useful (for tracking that one rider who’s always late) and fun (when smashing your mates in a training ride and seeing how far ahead you are).

It would also be great to see Garmin and Strava work more closely together. To know your time and place up a particular segment right after you’ve ridden it would be a fantastic feature.

But don’t get me wrong — the Edge 510 is still a great little unit. It’s got all the features that so many people love about the Edge 500 — the recording of a plethora of stats, the ability to upload and follow courses, and more. And the 510 certainly has improvements over its predecessor.

For example, the Edge 500 frequently takes a few minutes to get a solid satellite lock, leaving you staring at the “Locating Satellites…” screen and a progress bar that seems to make no progress at all. That lag is gone in the 510. In fact, the satellite lock-on seems to happen almost instantly. The longest I’ve had to wait is probably 5 seconds.

And there are some handy default screen options as well. When you use the unit for the first time there’s a screen that features a shadow rider (or “Virtual Partner”) that moves at an average speed of your choosing. This feature could be really useful if you’re trying to set a PB on a climb — just set the shadow rider’s speed to the average you need, and try to match it. (I believe there is a similar feature in the Edge 500 but it’s not as front-and-centre as it is in the Edge 510).

I’ve had some great little battles with the 20km/h shadow rider on my home commute. Because the average speed is taken for the entire time the ride is in progress, not just when you’re moving, you lose time on the shadow rider when you’re stuck at traffic lights. I like to imagine my shadow rider tapping away at a constant speed regardless of the terrain, blowing through traffic lights at a leisurely 20km/h while I’m impatiently stuck in traffic.

Game on, little buddy.

The Garmin Edge 510 will set you back roughly $300 for the basic unit and close to $400 if you want to get the “Performance Bundle”, which features a heart-rate monitor and speed/cadence sensor. If you’ve already got an Edge 500, upgrading to the 510 will get you LiveTracker, a larger color screen, and a many more minor features. Is it worth the upgrade if you already have an Edge 500 in good condition? Probably not. Is the 510 worth buying if you’re in the market for a new GPS? Most definitely.

Coming up in the next few days will be the Garmin Edge 810 review.

Wrap-up

A worthy successor?

To put this review into context, we're comparing the Garmin Edge 510 to is its predecessor, the Edge 500. There are so many new features and functions to talk about, but did we find them useful? Yes, there's no doubt that Garmin makes remarkable devices that has added a new dimension to our riding. If you already have a Garmin 500 and it's still in good condition, it's probably not worth the upgrade. What you're essentially getting with the Edge 510 over the 500 is LiveTrack, which is in the early stages of something that could be great.

GOOD STUFF

Improved battery life

Lots of new features and functions, including LiveTrack

GPS acquires satellites much more quickly that previous models

Larger screen means more data on one page, but is it larger necessarily better with the 810 as an option?

...and much more

BAD STUFF

Size has increased much closer to the Garmin 810 without incorporating maps

LiveTrack - is it really that useful? It has great potential, but it's not quite there yet

Have to agree with this (& DC Rainmakers excellent) review. There isn’t enough of an improvement to justify an upgrade. No updated ANT+, no Bluetooth Smart.
Auto upload: I can plug the unit in to my PC at the end of a ride to upload.
Live Tracking:I can use Glympse to do the same kind of “letting someone know where I am” tracking.
Weather: If I’m getting wet, I know it’s raining :)
I’ll be waiting until my 500 dies and maybe by then maybe the Edge 520 will have appeared.

Have to agree with this (& DC Rainmakers excellent) review. There isn’t enough of an improvement to justify an upgrade. No updated ANT+, no Bluetooth Smart.
Auto upload: I can plug the unit in to my PC at the end of a ride to upload.
Live Tracking:I can use Glympse to do the same kind of “letting someone know where I am” tracking.
Weather: If I’m getting wet, I know it’s raining :)
I’ll be waiting until my 500 dies and maybe by then maybe the Edge 520 will have appeared.

Auto upload feature is useless for power meter users. Most PM users use WKO+ or Golden Cheetah, which require USB connectivity. If Garmin decided to improve Garmin Connect analysis tool, that would be a whole different story. At the end of the day, my 500 is still as reliable as ever.

DerHoggz

But with LiveTrack everyone will see I spend way too much time at the Cafe.

Interestingly nobody ever reviews its data integrity. I raced Glenvale last Sunday and road with both an Edge 500 and Edge 510 connected to the SAME power meter. Both the 500 & 510 were setup to record every second.

Average power as recorded by the Edge 500 = 283 Watts for the hour
Average Power as recorded by the Edge 510 = 262 Watts for the same hour

These averages were computed by analysis software on my PC after the race form the raw FIT files.

Why? Other tests I’ve run show the 510 mysteriously recording the wrong power for short durations (records about ½ the known power output). I uploaded the new firmware, same problem. Recording the wrong data makes any other feature pointless.

Maybe I have a one-off bad unit, but I somehow doubt it.

Lama

810 no different Harry. Seems to be a known issue on the forums too. I won’t be going anywhere near these new units until this issue is sorted.

same here 15w power diff in only an 5 min effort with new garmin 510. pretty disapointing and also ant+ drops out as does HR. turn it off then on again and it comes back. great concept but a few too many bugs at present even with the update

Al

Just had my faulty 500 replaced under warranty and, since they were replacing it with a new unit, I asked if I could pay the difference and get a 510 instead. They said no. Looks like I might’ve dodged a bullet!

I wouldn’t say you dodged a bullet. You would have scored if you got a 510 as a replacement.

jules

the LiveTrack function appears to use the Garmin device as a ‘thin client’ – i.e. just picks up the GPS trace and does everything else with your smartphone + app. given that there are alternative sources of a GPS signal, including your smart phone itself, the Garmin device doesn’t seem to adding a lot of value to, or is particularly needed for this feature (other than that’s how Garmin have developed it, as a hook for pushing sales of the 510).

You didn’t really talk about the auto sync to Garmin connect, you can combine that with a cloud service at Garminsync.com which will then auto sync from your Garmin Connect account to your Strava account.
Which it does within 15mins if you log onto garmin connect and change the name, or within around 30mins with the default name. Te only bug is that you can’t do the rename yet on the garmin APP

Now I only have to plug my Garmin in once or twice a week to charge. I can do my ore work ride, rush home get to work and look at my ride data with a coffee without having to stuff around plugging in and syncing. Love it!

After a few weeks using it, the interface is a bit more fiddly and the touch screen is quite sensitive, I can also say using it offroad the new screen doesn’t seem to be good when dusty, it seems to stick to the screen more and smudge.

The satellite connection speed is much better, and was a real bug for me on the edge500 taking up to five minutes usually.

Harvster

Agree. I haven’t had a 500, but use a forerunner 210 watch for running, which is extremely frustrating waiting for satellites for 5+ minutes, when you are time poor. I recently purchased the 510 and loving the very quick glasnoss sat connection…some of the other features are a bit gimmicky, ie virtual partner – does anyone really need or use it? Courses are a bit clunky, and sometimes difficult to follow the on screen indicator. Improvements for mine would be better mapping, auto upload to strava.

However if u need a gps computer, and tossing up 500 or 510, I would definitely go the 510 for no other reason that satellite connectivity, esp if there is little or no price difference.

brycerider

I know its not an in depth review but there are a few questions most would be interested in. Does the touch screen function in winter gloves? What is the battery life like compared to a 500? Are there any features other than LiveTrack worth noting? Upsizing the form factor is a minus in my book. LiveTrack looks like novelty value and as noted a major battery drainer. Happy to hang on to my 500 till it dies.

DC Rainmaker makes it seem that if you are looking at buying the 500 or the 510, it would be better to go with the 500. What are your thoughts? Live Track isn’t a feature I’m really interested in because the only one who is interested in where I am is the wife, and she can use “find my iPhone” without draining the battery doing a Bluetooth hookup.

Matt de Neef

That was my first impression too, Dan. But even with the price reduction, the Edge 500 isn’t that much cheaper than the 510 (http://www.bikeforce.com.au/browse?query=garmin). In fact, if you get the head unit alone, the 510 is the same price as the 500 at Bike Force ($299). Might as well get the 510 if that’s the case.

Dan

The 510 it is then. Thank you!

C59

I have a real problem with this so called ‘improvement’. I don’t know of any cycling improvement where things get bigger and heavier. I know we are talking grams but doesn’t seem to make sense. As a relatively serious road rider my 500 is the perfect form factor. I don’t want a bigger unit on my bike, nor are the features compelling in the slightest to warrant an upgrade. It seems the marketing department of Garmin are getting too much say in the design process and the not athletes.

Hunter

I currently own a 500 and I wouldn’t replace it with a 510. More expensive, a couple of extra features I don’t need, bigger which I don’t need or want and doesn’t record power as accurately. The only thing right they have done is make it all black.

Hunter

I currently own a 500 and I wouldn’t replace it with a 510. More expensive, a couple of extra features I don’t need, bigger which I don’t need or want and doesn’t record power as accurately. The only thing right they have done is make it all black.

Hunter

I currently own a 500 and I wouldn’t replace it with a 510. More expensive, a couple of extra features I don’t need, bigger which I don’t need or want and doesn’t record power as accurately. The only thing right they have done is make it all black.

You can already use an App that comes with your iphone to track others,like “find my friends” for example.
I’m pretty sure at this stage I’d have no interest in that part of the 510.Locking onto satellites would be a positive over the 500 though.I have both the 500+800 and I love the 800 and see no need to upgrade.

MattClark

The lag in picking up satellites for the 500 can be fixed if you upload all your activities, then delete the old ride files off your garmin. Speeds it up a heap